Where Are the Dog Days of Yesteryear?

The Greeks started the whole thing by calling sultry summer weather “Dog Days,” blaming it on the brightest star in the sky besides the Sun, Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. But it was the Romans who really took it seriously: They sacrificed brown dogs to appease the rage of Sirius and ameliorate the weather.

Now, could it be that the Dog Days in Washington are a thing of the past?

The weather has been foul enough, but where is the cessation of news? Where are the soft, feature articles masquerading as news that marked the metaphorical Dog Days? Where are the lesser politicians trying to get noticed for bills they have introduced that will died in committee?

It used to be at this time of year, when Congress was preparing for its long summer recess, things just slowed down, practically flat-lined. Washington emptied; the traffic thinned; no reservations were needed in restaurants; and clubs, like the Metropolitan and the Cosmos, opened their doors to non-members.

While there has been some summer flight, the journalistic and political intensity continues apace. Not only is this an election year, but the whole structure of political reporting has been revolutionized.

In a time of journalistic agony in most publications, political reporting is booming, fed by new technologies and cable news. Well, that is on the surface; out of sight, the furnace is fed by money, lobbying money.

If you want Congress to pass legislation favorable to your interests, or not to pass something unfavorable, then you hire a slew of lobbyists. They, in turn, place “advocacy” ads and the political media are off to the races. These ads appear on air, on line, on paper and on our doorsteps. Some media outlets charge hefty subscription fees, like Congressional Quarterly and National Journal, others are given away. But all seek and promise to lift the veil of secrecy in Washington.

The reporters—for Roll Call, The Hill, The Daily Caller, and hundreds of blogs clustered around publications and television channels, mainstream newspapers and wire services–slice, dice, puree, chop, blend, mix, pound, julienne, mince, whip and, sometimes, flavor the news. But mostly they feed the rapacious, 24-hour news cycle by blowing the slightest slip of the tongue, the smallest infraction of decorum, the inadvertent utterance into national events.

The remarkable new entry in the field is Politico, which exploded on the scene with the considerable fortune of Robert Allbritton, chairman and chief executive officer of Allbritton Communications, which owns television stations in Washington and elsewhere. As an example of innovative multi-platform publishing, it is an exemplar.

The impact in the surge in political reporting across the board is questionable: too many peas of news in mattresses of words. There is no time to investigate, and none to ponder. Better to be first and wrong than second and right.

One result of the swelling ranks of political reporter is politicians have clammed up. It is unwise for them to say anything that has not been vetted by their staffs. Hence, their infatuation with social media.

Here in high summer, one realizes that the glorious lazy, hazy Dog Days are a thing of the past; a time to do that interview you had put off, to try to be little more creative with your writing, to talk the bureau chief or editor into an off-beat story. No, instead, hundreds of political reporters are looking for something, anything, to fill today’s void. Was a congressman seen with a pretty woman (Damn, it is his daughter!)? Did a senator misspell something on her Facebook page?

It is this frenzy for faux news that brought us stories like Acorn, Shirley Sherrod, and the endless sightings of President Obama with known socialists? Whew!

From: bederest (Letter in the [Biloxi-Gulfport and South Mississippi] Sun-Herald)

To people like me who lived through the 1970s so-called “oil shortage,” you should remember that we didn’t have a shortage of oil.
President Carter imposed price controls on ALL oil, both domestic and imported. Rather than sell oil for less than it cost to produce it, suppliers cut way back on production and OPEC refused to lower their market-offered price. Simply put, if you were selling a product for $4.00 and the government froze your asking price, what is your incentive to produce more when inflation passes you up?
Nixon tried price controls on beef; Johnson did the same with sugar. The results were the same: Shortages.
Imposing price controls is nothing but a form of nationalism, or socialism. IT NEVER WORKS !
I recommend to those who THINK they know all about the oil business, read the following books: “The Seven Sisters,” or “The Prize.”
Drilling for oil in the U.S. is now akin to beating your wife, or starving your children to save money for drugs! Look what the government has done to the Louisiana economy with the drilling moratorium.
Also, the only way the government can control the price of oil is imposing or lowering the tax per gallon.
And finally. To those who blame Republican Presidents

From: osbear (Letter in the [Biloxi, Gulfport and South Mississippi] Sun-Herald)

I wonder if this article includes the huge amounts of oil trapped in the deposits of oil shale and tar sands. At some point these deposits will become economically viable. The days of cheap oil are clearly over, but we will muddle through and the world will not come to an end. We need to move away from our dependence on fossil fuels and much higher prices will provide a greater incentive for alternative energy development.

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